IoT based apparatus for assessing quality of food produce

Abstract

An IoT based apparatus to assess the quality of food or agricultural produce is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a frame having an enclosure, a movable tray disposed at a middle portion of the enclosure, one or more camera installed within the enclosure, one or more light source strategically mounted within the enclosure to avoid reflection and hot spots, at least one storage unit, a touch screen display and a single board computer coupled to the camera, light source, storage unit and touch screen display. The enclosure is illuminated by the light source and the camera is configured to capture the image of the produce from both the top and bottom side of the produce. A pre-trained deep learning model is used on both the top and bottom view images to identify defects in the agricultural produce. The identified defects are displayed to the user via the touch screen display.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An IoT based apparatus for inspecting quality of food produce, comprising:
 a frame having an enclosure 
 a movable plastic tray disposed at a middle portion of the enclosure, configured to receive a food produce to be inspected; 
 one or more camera comprising a first camera and a second camera installed within the enclosure; 
 one or more light source comprises a first light source and a second light source strategically mounted within the enclosure to avoid reflection and hot spots, 
 at least one storage unit for storing the image of food produce from the one or more camera; 
 a touch screen display for displaying the food produce placed in the tray; 
 a single board computer coupled to the camera, the first light source, the second light source, the touch screen display, a wireless network, configured to,
 light the first light source to emit light and capture image of an upper region of the food produce placed in the tray; 
 light the second light source to emit light and capture image of a lower region of the food produce placed in the tray; 
 store the at least two captured images in the storage unit and analyze the at least two captured images to obtain defect value of the food produce, using a deep learning model; and 
 display the defect value and the food produce image along with defects labelled on the image. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first camera installed at an upper portion of the enclosure and the second camera installed at a lower portion of the enclosure. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first light source disposed at the top portion of the enclosure and the second light source disposed at the bottom portion of the enclosure. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein each light source is secured within the enclosure via a movable camera mount. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the movable camera mount is configured to move between an up and down position to focus the food produce placed in the tray. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprises four or more wheels beneath the frame of the enclosure to facilitate movement of the apparatus. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the single board computer is configured to drive the one or more light source and one or more camera in sequence to capture the two least two images of the food produce. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second light source is configured to emit warm white color with temperature of 3000K-3500K to preserve the natural color food produce. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the single board computer is configured to superimpose the captured image of the upper region of the food produce to the captured image of the lower region of the food produce to obtain a 360-degree coverage of the food produce. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the plastic tray is a transparent plastic tray and allows high percentage of light transmission. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first light source and the second light source is a LED strip. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first light source and the second light source are mounted at an angle of 45 degree to a plane of the plastic tray for brighter illumination. 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first light source and the second light source are covered by a diffuser. 
     
     
       14. An IoT based apparatus for inspecting quality of food produce, comprising:
 a frame having an enclosure 
 a movable plastic tray disposed at a middle portion of the enclosure, configured to receive a food produce to be inspected; 
 one or more camera comprising a first camera and a second camera installed within the enclosure,
 wherein the first camera installed at an upper portion of the enclosure and the second camera installed at a lower portion of the enclosure; 
 
 one or more light source comprises a first light source and a second light source strategically mounted within the enclosure to avoid reflection and hot spots,
 wherein the first light source disposed at the top portion of the enclosure and the second light source disposed at the bottom portion of the enclosure; 
 
 at least one storage unit for storing the image of food produce from the one or more camera; 
 a touch screen display for displaying the food produce placed in the tray; 
 a single board computer coupled to the camera, the first light source, the second light source, the touch screen display, a wireless network, configured to,
 light the first light source to emit light and capture image of an upper region of the food produce placed in the tray; 
 light the second light source to emit light and capture image of a lower region of the food produce placed in the tray; 
 store the captured image in the storage unit and analyze the at least two captured images to obtain defect value of the food produce, using a deep learning model; and 
 display the defect value and the food produce image along with defects labelled on the image. 
 
 
     
     
       15. The apparatus according to  claim 14 , further comprises four or more wheels beneath the frame of the enclosure to facilitate movement of the apparatus. 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein each light source is secured within the enclosure via a movable camera mount. 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the movable camera mount is configured to move between an up and down position to focus the food produce placed in the tray. 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the first light source and the second light source are mounted at an angle of 45 degree to a plane of the plastic tray for brighter illumination. 
     
     
       19. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the single board computer is configured to superimpose the captured image of the upper region of the food produce to the captured image of the lower region of the food produce to obtain a 360-degree coverage of the food produce. 
     
     
       20. The apparatus of  claim 14 , wherein the first and second light source is configured to emit warm white color with temperature of 3000K-3500K to preserve the natural color food produce.